Ferrari left playing F1 long game after Red Bull and Aston's flying start

It was by no means a disaster, although a failed experiment with a new rear wing that was seen to flap about in the breeze in FP1 was a trifle embarrassing. As was a huge spin for Carlos Sainz when his car bottomed heavily on a bump, which suggested that the team had taken a wrong turn on the set-up of his SF-23.

“We were just testing some things in the car,” said Sainz. “Trying to finalise a few things that we wanted to try in FP1, scrubbing the medium tyres, which we wanted to get rid of enough in FP1 to use the softs in the night session. And yeah, it didn’t go to plan, clearly. It wasn’t intentional, it was a test that went wrong.

“Then I lost a bit of track time, I lost a bit of freedom and probably paid in FP2. The car doesn’t feel the same as it did in testing. So we’re putting an eye into what it could be, the track conditions have changed a bit. And it looks like performance things also have changed. So we will have a good look overnight and try to put it together tomorrow.

“The car is not exactly responding as I expect, or as it did in testing. And for that I’m struggling a bit more with the balance and it’s a bit more out of place compared to where it was, but we’re having a good look at it. And we expect to put it back together for tomorrow.”

Like the nine other teams Ferrari has had just the three days of testing during which to hone its car before being plunged into the race weekend. With changing temperatures and wind direction playing havoc with set-up choices that seemed ideal 24 hours earlier it’s not been easy for anyone.

“The timing of it, I don’t mind, it’s more than the amount of it that maybe all drivers we are struggling to understand why the system believes that one day and a half of preparation is enough,” said Sainz.

“Who decides this, why? I understand the cost associated with it. But running a car on track for a driver is fundamental for his fitness, for the car understanding, even for car safety, reliability, you need a bit more than that. Hopefully we will have more of it in the future.

“There’s always learnings, conclusions set-up tuning that you do in F1, if not, it wouldn’t be F1. We’re going to try to out the best possible package for this first race.

“We learned that the car is doing what we expected it to do from the wind tunnel and our simulator and simulations. The car is behaving as we expect it, it is delivering everything that we expected it to deliver.

“And happy with that, because it means that the car is responding to the wind tunnel and everything that we try and do. So it’s a positive. Now, will it be enough to win races and be where we want to be? Only time will tell. And I think we only need 48 hours to know that.”

Sainz made it clear that Ferrari has long been aware that Aston Martin had a quick car, and he seemed genuinely happy for his old pal and sometime mentor Fernando Alonso.

“It’s already been since December that everyone hears the rumours that Aston Martin is going to be quick this year,” he said. “We all know they were their numbers were very good in the wind tunnel, in the simulator. They were I think even struggling to hide the excitement of what they were seeing!

“So we arrived in Bahrain and they kind of confirmed that they are in the mix with us. And I think it’s great news for F1, good news for Fernando. I’m excited to have one more team in the battle this year.”

Charles Leclerc was a little more upbeat about the Friday form of his car, and in contrast to his team mate thought that he was actually better off than he was last week.

“Let’s say that the feeling is better than testing,” said Leclerc after Friday’s running. “On my side in testing it has been very, very inconsistent in the way we run the car, because we’re testing loads of things. So I didn’t have much time to put the car to my liking, which I did today. And I think went really well.

“On the other hand, it seems that, again, what we thought was confirmed, Red Bull seem quite a bit ahead compared to everyone. Aston seems very strong, too. So let’s wait and see. For now we need to focus on ourselves, try to gain a bit of performance overnight, and hopefully have a great qualifying tomorrow.”

Leclerc made clear that it’s about damage limitation: “I don’t think we have the performance, maybe for pole, but we can be in the mix. And whenever we have races that are a bit more difficult, we should be here and try and take every opportunity. So that’s what we’ll try to do this weekend.”

It’s not what Ferrari wanted to be doing, but it’s a logical approach. The team may feel the weight of expectation on its shoulders, but valuable lessons were learned last year.

“So far, for sure that Red Bull is a step ahead,” said new team boss Fred Vasseur. “But the season is 23 races and we didn’t do the first one yet, and it’s a long way to go.

“I think last year for the team was a good lesson, the championship is not over after race one, and we know that it will be a long way. And we have to continue to develop the car over the season.”

Vasseur has always been a voice of reason, and his steadying influence will play an important role in the weeks and months to come as the team tries to find more speed.

“I think that clearly there is more emotion, passion, and so around Ferrari,” said the Frenchman. “But at the end of the day, I think all the racing teams are similar on the fact that we have the same DNA.

“It’s all about technique and performance and continuous improvement, and the approach is the same. Passion is a bit higher probably, but this is OK.”

Vasseur is well aware that he will be in the spotlight on a personal level to a higher degree than he’s used to: “What we are doing, it’s much more visible for everybody, but honestly I love the pressure and the target is to win and, it’s a dream.

“I am very keen to have this kind of target and this kind of motivation every day. And I think that the team is used to dealing with it and honestly, I’m not scared at all about this.”

There have already been some changes in the strategy department to address one high profile weakness that was exposed last year, but there’s more to come.

“It’s not about strategy,” said Vasseur. “We need to have this approach in every single area of the team, in every single department. And we have to do this job, to try to improve in every single area.

“If you stay at the same level two weeks in a row you are dead, because everybody is improving. And it’s part of the process, and we tried to review what was working last year and what was not working. And we took action, but it’s not about the [strategy] person.”

Sainz has already noticed a shift in the way things work in Maranello under his new boss.

“Obviously Fred is a different profile to Mattia,” he said. “And he’s starting to have an effect now in the way we run the team. Obviously, 1200 people is a big boat to steer right and left. So he needs time to learn all that, and see how the team operates.

“Also, don’t forget that his first days on track were one week ago. So still learning, but already starting to feel changes and starting to feel different, and starting to feel like he wants to change a few things. So yeah, let’s keep giving him time.”

As for Sainz himself he downplayed any pressure triggered by the suggestion that Ferrari is worse off than a year ago. Like Vasseur he knows that the team has to play the long game.

“On my side I don’t feel that because I didn’t start [2022] that well,” he said. “But what we learned last year very clearly is that whoever wins the first race, it doesn’t mean you’re going to win the championship.

“And if you DNF with two cars on the first race, you’re not going to lose the championship, because it’s exactly what happened last year between us and Red Bull.

“And we also know how it finished. So whatever happens in this first race, stay humble, stick to your plan of development of the things that you want to improve. Because the championship is not won or lost in this first race, and there’s still 22 left.”